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Monday, October 27, 2014

Monday Mission: Restoring Faith in Humanity

There were so many things that occurred this weekend that just made me lose faith in humanity.

Saturday there was a half-marathon that wrapped completely around my block no matter which way I tried to go. The runners also filled up all of the local parking lots, so I eventually ended up cutting through a couple of parking lots and walking two blocks home and through a half-marathon. I was super sad to find that someone had let their children pick all of our hydrangeas and leave them scattered about in the mulch. It was such a cluster, and I was just so frustrated with the situation. Later that night, my landlord called me to check on the situation and assured me that it would be taken care of. Just hearing someone listen to what I had to say made me feel so much better.

Yesteday, my rambunctious Frannie jumped out of a cracked window. The whole thing was absolutely terrifying, and while at first we thought she had gotten hit by a car, she seems to be fine. (We are definitely keeping an eye on her, though.) While C and I were panicking and trying to take inventory of the situation, the driver of the car gets out, starts cussing us out, screaming about leash laws, and saying she is going to go home, get her bullets, then come kill all three of us. I know it is our fault that our dog got out, but seriously?! Threatening someone's life because their dog could have dented their (already beat up) truck? The world that we live in is a terrifying place, and that incident made me feel a lot less safe in what I considered to be my safe little corner of the world.

So how can we combat all of these horrible actions that seem to be more common than not and make people feel a little safer in their little corner?

1. Be encouraging! I can be having the worst day ever, but if my boss compliments something that I did at work, it really boosts my confidence. It's nice to have a little extra pep in your step.

2. Be kind! This one can be difficult, especially if someone is being less than kind to you. But like the old saying - "Kill them with kindness." There's no excuse for nastiness, but try to remember that there may be something going on in someone's life that causes them to act the way that they do.

3. Be compassionate! If you know someone is dealing with something tough, cut them some slack. (This is definitely one that I need to work on.) We all deal with stress and grief differently. For example - if you hit someone's dog with your car on accident, maybe don't threaten to kill them.

4. Be thoughtful! I am so blessed to have super thoughtful friends in my life, and I aspire to be more like them. When I have a conversation with co-workers about what they're doing that weekend, their sick husband, etc., I always try to check back up with them on Monday and see how their weekend was or how their spouse is doing. It's nice to feel remembered!

5. Smile! This one is soooo easy! You never know who might just need a smile in their direction :)